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Episode 106: The Evil Of Coveting · End-Time Revival Ministries, USA

• Right, all right, God bless you once again, ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you to this another edition of End Time Revival Ministries USA Podcasts for those of you who are listening by way of audio to our podcast that can be found on multiple platforms through different outlets on on on these available again podcast platforms where you can find us by simply doing a search End Time Revival Ministries USA Podcasts End Time Revival Ministries USA podcast you will find us there on Again or through rather multiple outlets. And also for the past few weeks, we have now been videoing as well on our YouTube channel. We've redone our YouTube channel that has been around for several years. I've had it, but I've never used it that often for this particular platform and this particular ministry. So we've now renamed the YouTube channel One Voice in the Wilderness. One Voice in the Wilderness, and you can go to YouTube and type in a simple search of the number one the letters VW, which again stands for One Voice in the Wilderness, where we are simply attempting to a man proclaim the truth of God in such a time as this, This is our calling, this is our destiny in this world to a man, speak the truth of God a man again in such a time as this, and today we're going to continue in our series that we begun a few weeks ago simply entitled the Problem of Evil, the Problem of Evil, And today we're going to deal with the evil of coveting, the evil of coveting. And before we begin and go into this, let's, of course, as always, begin with a word of prayer. Father, we just want to thank you again for life, health, strength, Lord, for all of the blessings, all of the miracle signs and wonders of your majestic power. Thank you Lord for being the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Great I am, and giving to us this great salvation and a hope and a future that we have in you. Thank You for the blood of Jesus Christ that will shed for the remission of our sins. We now have life because of you. Thank you again for the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. And we got needed in such a time as this. Blessed now every listening ear and every obedient heart in Jesus' name, Amen and amen, all right, the evil of coveting, And and I want you to go to Joshua, chapter number seven. I'm just gonna read a couple of verses there in just a moment. If you're familiar with the story, when the children of Israel defeated the city of Jericho. Uh, when the walls around the city collapsed, and there was an occasion where one man of the camp ended up causing great calamity for the whole nation. Amen. When when when they went on to their next battle against a very tiny city called Ai, and and because of this one man's disobedience, the army of Israel in that initial confrontation with the men of Ai, with a small regiment of about three thousand men that they sent to battle, because they advised Joshua that, hey, it's just a little small city, we can take it. We don't need to send the whole army. You just send a little regiment of three thousand, We should easily be able to handle this one. But instead they were chased away, and they lost thirty six soldiers a man in that day of that initial day of confrontation. And of course Joshua, a man, being the man of God that he was, he fell on his face before the Lord and he inquired the Lord as to why they were defeated in this seemingly easy battle a man against this little small city, and the Lord told him that there was sin in the camp. There was sin in the camp, and of course they went through a process and discovered a man who it was that had sinned. And the man who had sinned was named Aiken. Verse number twenty of Joshua seven. We're gonna read there, should read a couple of verses to a man set the basis or the foundation for what we're gonna be discussing today. And the Bible says Aiken answered Joshua after he was confronted and found to be the guilty party. The Bible says he answered Joshua and said, indeed, I have listened. These are his own words. He's now confessing. He's now confessing that he is the guilty party, even though he has already been found out to be the guilty party. Indeed, he says, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. Listened to verse twenty one, when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment and two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight. Listen what he says. Then I coveted them. I coveted them and took them. And behold they are hid in the earth, in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. Now, please understand that the sin of coveting is perhaps the most overlooked, and it's used evil of the heart that can be just as detrimental as any of the higher And again this is from our perspective higher ranking evils a man. And then this again, this is from the way we look at it a man and define what is evil, which of course is erroneous. And uh uh when we minimize a man the potential detriments of this sin of the heart. Amen, we are again, as it is with many of the other things. Uh. When we don't come clean, when we when we again want to redefine and and uh change the truth of God into a lie, we're giving the enemy even more of an advantage. But when the evil of covetousness is excused, and when it's rationalized as if it were not an evil sin of the heart, and again again we're giving place to the wickedness that is in our heart. We're giving a fertilizer and water and sunshine to the seed that's implanet within us. Amen and and and we also allow the scheming of the devil, the wicked one, the opportunity to come in and work or work in the heart. Amen and and see that it has to be that what it needs to be dealt with inwardly before it becomes manifested outwardly, because man cannot see on the inside. Man doesn't know, We don't know a man. The evil of covetousness is not seen by us, but it's seen by God. God sees everything, He sees all of the inner workings. He's the outward a man. A man can only again see the outward appearance, outward manifestation of the wickedness that may come from the covetousness that can be in our hearts. But God sees it before it even happens a man. And some of the most blatant, blatantly covetous of men in the history of mankind come from the ranks of those who already have the power and wealth and material things of this world a man, but they are lacking in contentment. And it is the most again underrated fact, perhaps in considering the root cause of so much of the evil and bloodshed that has been throughout the history of humanity and still happening right now even as we speak, and and and it is because we as a people, we as fallen creatures, human beings, sinful by nature, we are never satisfied as as a people, satisfied as a nation, a man with those resources, with what God has given to us, with what God has blessed us with, and and and and He's done this with each and every a man. Place of territory, peace of territory on the earth. Every nation has something, some resource, something that's within that uh uh territory that is useful and can be uh used to enrich and bring enjoyment and and prosperity amen for the people of that territory. But instead of us living peacefully and seeking the good and welfare of our neighboring nations of their blessings and prosperity that God has granted to them, we have again. History is littered with this. Rich and powerful kings and rulers, they have always sought to conquer and overtake and overthrow more and more territory for their own glory and honor, simply because inside of their sinful heart a man resides the evil of covetousness. Never underestimate the evil of covetousness. And I'm gonna give you two prime examples of this covetousness in the hearts of powerful men, a man that led to egregious actions, a man by again, these two powerful kings, kings who were ruling over the people of Israel. One of them, you'll know very well is very familiar with. He was a man and is still the most perhaps revered king in all of the history of the nation of Israel, named David. You're very familiar with David. But David, in his sin of coveting, he coveted another man's wife. And David was considered a man and even by God to be one of the good kings. And then there was one of the wicked kings of Israel by the name of Ahab, a man who coveted the land or the vineyard that belonged to his neighbor. Now, both of these evil hidden desires of coveting within the hearts of these two kings, in both instances, in both cases led to the deaths of their weaker subjects, a man, who were almost altogether powerless against a man their desires, that wicked desires that was in their heart. Amen, they were, they were powerless to prevent these these kings from carrying out their covetous inner workings that have brood within their hearts. And both of them were fully aware. Both David and a haveb were fully aware of the law of God a man that prohibited this kind of lust, that prohibited this kind of behavior. And yet because the sin of covetousness gained root, gained traction growth within their heart, a man, by them not dispelling it out of their heart, a man, they proceeded to kill murder these two innocent beings, human beings because fellow human beings, servants of theirs, subservient a man subjects in their kingdom. One of them, in David's case, this man was a loyal, very loyal, a man, a member of his army, of his military. And listen to what the Bible says. I want to take you a couple of passages in the Old Testament were under the law. Again, these both of them knew that it was a prohibition against this kind of evil. But this is what the Bible says in Exodus twenty, verse number seventeen. This is what the Bible says, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maid servant, nor his ots, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbors. Thou shalt not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. Then again, it was to repeat it in Deuteronomy, chapter five, verse twenty one. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ats, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbors. We are not to covet what belongs to our neighbor. Now, don't ask the question who is your neighbor? That question was answered in the news estament, Amen, when Jesus showed us that everyone in essence is our neighbor. So do not covet anything that belongs to someone else. We are not to covet, Amen, And please, as we can see, and I could go on and on with example after example in the Bible and out of the Bible. And again, so much of the bloodshed, so much of the war that we have going on even now, is because of coveting, the sin of coveting. We want what belongs to someone else. And this is what James said. We war, we fight, we kill, and we desire to have and we have not because we ask not. Amen. And God again is pleased to bless and to prosper, and he has He's given to every nation and every people opportunity, resources. Amen, everything that we need that pertains to life and Godliness. But our disobedience and our rebellion against the law of God is what is the cause of the root cause of so much of the calamity that is in our world to then has been, and it all begins in many instances, in most cases, in a lot of instances, with coveting. We want something that does not belong to us. Amen. And when we fail to first and foremost, this is first and foremost. When we fail to do this, we fail to honor God. When we do that, when we fail to honor Him who is the Lord and the creator and the owner by the way of this world and all that is within it when we fail. What we're doing is we're grasping at autonomy, Amen, and we are refusing to give him the glory and the honor and his rightful lordship, kingship, sovereign rule over us, Amen, that he has as the again, the creator and the owner. The Bible says, the earth is the Lord's, the fullness thereof the world, and they that dwell therein the Lord, said the caliph on the thousand hills is mine. I own everything. And if we would acknowledge that, in acknowledging him as being the Lord and sovereign ruler, and obey his word, and then we could live in peace and prosperity, and everybody can be blessed. But we don't want that. We've got to have more a man than what we have. And again, in David's case, David already had multiple wives, he had the blessings of God, he had the favor of God. Amen, but he coveted another man's wife. In Ahab's case, he was blessed, he was prosperous, he had much, and he coveted another man's vineyard and had the man killed, had the man so he could take it. And again, both of them knew the law of God. They understood that it was wrong, they knew that it was evil. David, of course confessed. You read it in Psalm fifty one, and he praised God for mercy a man and blot out his sins, he said, and he admitted it. He confessed that he had done evil in the sight of God. And this evil, of course, it began. David ended up committing adultery. David ended up committing murder. I mean, David just broke, she stole, he stole, he took from another man his wife. I mean, all of these started. That was the outward manifestation. The adultery is the outfit manifestation. The stealing of this man, the taking up of this man's wife is an outward manifestation. The actual murder of this man was an outward manifestation of what What happened first and foremost in the heart of David, the sin of coveting again. And if we minimize it, if we try to rationalize it away. Amen, Oh, it's it's just ambition. It's just you know, a desire to do better, to be better. And no, no, most most listen, let's not rationalize or try to rationalize away coveting. Amen. Again, we lust and we desire, and we have not, James says, because we ask, not ask, and it shall be given seeking you. If I knocking the door, we be open. It is God's pleasure to give us. Amen. And Bible says, by the way those of walk up right before him, no good thing will he withhold from them. Amen. Our blessings come through our obedience. But the curse amen, of of of of, of the wrath of God comes upon us when we rebel against His word and the evil of covetousness. Believe you me, believe you, you know it, I know it. We all know what. We just need a man come clean in our heart to mind. Amen and confess. Amen. This evil of covetousness is just as alive and well and thriving in the hearts of men today as it has ever been. Amen. Listen what the Bible tells us in first ten of the chapter six, verse ten. You know it. Amen. For those of you who read your Bibles, the Bible says, for the love of money, man, oh man, oh man, do we not have that problem today? In our culture, in our world today? The love of money is the root of all evil. Now listen carefully. The Bible doesn't say money is the root of all evil. The Bible clearly tells us that money answers all things. We need money, it's commerce. I mean, listen, I'm not going to all of that about money. But the Bible says the love of money, the lust for desire for it, of it, is at the root of all evil. While some the Bible says coveted, after listen to what the Bible says, when you lust and desire and covet wealth, and again, we can rationalize an excuse and call it being ambitious and all that kind of No, it's greed. It's lust. It's coveting when you want something that someone else has. Amen. And it happens in industry, happens with businesses, it happens all the it happens all of the time. And we will stump down and even if we can't beat them, we'll buy them out somebody that's doing better or have something else that we want. Amen. The sin of coveting, the love of money is the root of all evil. Which while some covet it after listen to what the Bible says, they have erred from the faith and pierce themselves through with many sorrows. You want to put a dagger in your own heart, You want to put a sword to your own neck. Amen, The love of money will do it. The love of money will do it. Coveting all of these things, Amen, coveting what does not belong to you, that is somebody else's. Why can't we rejoice with other people in their prosperity, in what God is blessed in with? Why do we have to covet and desire and lust after and long for something that belongs to somebody else? It's evil. It's evil, Amen, And the evil of covetousness in the hearts of man. It can and will lead to envy. It'll lead to jealousy. It'll lead to malice and hatred. It will lead to lying, deceiving man. And of course war and destruction and death and murder and mayhem in the earth, all of it, all of it comes from a heart of covetousness. When we covet that which does not belong to us. But the Bible says it makes clear. Paul writes to his son Timothy, and the Gospel listen, Godliness, hear it carefully, with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world. And listen to the Bible says, it is certain that we will carry nothing out, and having food and raiment, let us therewith be content Amen, and we will do well. We will do well, People of God, Church of the Living God, anybody, everybody, all men, everywhere. We will do well to keep this biblical truth. Embed it within our hearts, Amen, deep within our hearts, so that a man, as the people of God, can live in peace and prosperity. And also one last thing, remember, always remember, never forget it, that the earth is the Lord's, the fullness thereof everything and everybody in it, all belongs to him. If we will remember that, if we would do that, if we will live by that a man, we can dispel from the heart the wickedness of covetousness, the evil of this sin of coveting. Thou shalt not covet that which does not belong to you a man. Ask God gives liberally. God blesses abundantly, Amen, and he will give you peace. And the Bible says the blessing of God is no sorrow with it. Amen. Father. We just want to thank you for your word and for all of your promises. And Lord, we're just praying today that somebody somewhere where let the word of the Living God saturate their hearts. And Lord, we want to walk in obedience to you a man, and live in peace and prosperity, especially in such a time as this turn the hearts change the hearts. Do within the heart that only you can do by the power of your Holy Spirit, so that we a man can live with peace and prosperity in this world. In your name, we pray give thanks for all things. Amen and Amen.